San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum will take his next turn in the rotation Friday against the Oakland A’s, manager Bruce Bochy says, despite the fact that the Giants have lost his last nine starts.

Lincecum gave up five runs and two home runs in five-plus innings of a loss Saturday to the last-place Seattle Mariners, leaving many to speculate that the Bochy might skip Lincecum or temporarily demote him to the bullpen.

“He’s healthy. He feels good,” Bochy told CSNBayArea.com. “I know the results haven’t been great for Timmy, but you just see too many good signs. Even after the first inning (Saturday), he had bad luck there.”

Still, the Giants have lost nine straight games started by Lincecum (2-8, 6.19 ERA).

More to the point: The Giants, who trail the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by five games in the NL West, are 10 games under .500 (2-12) when Lincecum pitches and 18 games over (35-17) when he doesn’t.

Those numbers coupled with a tougher upcoming stretch of the schedule coming up, left the question to be asked: Should Lincecum still be in the rotation?

"I want to pitch every fifth day," Lincecum said after Saturday’s loss, according to the San Francisco Chroncle. "I want that ball."

Lincecum’s last win came April 28 against the Padres. He’s allowed at least four runs in 10 of his 14 starts.

An off-day Thursday would’ve allowed the Giants’ other four starters to pitch on normal rest, starting with Friday's game at Oakland, and also set a more favorable rotation of Ryan Vogelsong, Lincecum's spot and Cain for the first home series of the season against the rival Dodgers the following week.

But, according to CSNBayArea.com, Lincecum showed better velocity Saturday night, which is perhaps one reason the Giants have chosen to hold off on making any changes.

“At this point we think the best thing is to let him fight through this,” Bochy said. “If we felt different, we’d do it.”